The Birds Series: The Castle

Those that know me know that I have an irrational fear and hatred of birds. (Actually, I think it's perfectly justified!)  "But Why?" you might ask. There are a number of traumatic experiences to point to and, in an attempt to bring some levity to your day, I'm going to chronicle as many of those moments as I can remember.  So...keep a look out for The Birds Series.
 

On our way back to the States from Kenya we stopped in Germany to visit some friends who were living there at the time. The days were filled with beautiful scenery, castles and history, cobblestones and fun. We explored, we laughed, we ate.

One day we took a tour of a castle. I don’t know which one although I do know that it was partially destroyed in a fire because at night they had this light show that reenacted the fire. The other attraction at the castle was the bird show…

Heidelberg Castle.
Don't know if this is where I was but it also was partially destroyed by fire.
(picture from Wikipedia)

Ok, I get it. Hunting with hawks was a big sport back in the castle days. It’s neat to see how people lived back then. I just would have been more interested in a show about the clothing or anything else; how about a joust?!

It was a standard show. Bring out the various hawks and have them fly so low over the crowd that everyone ducks and screams as they go by. Of course, my screams were probably the only ones of terror as they flew over with their talons mere inches from my head.

Harbinger of terror

Picture Source: Stars and Stripes

The final act was demonstrating how hawks grab their prey right out of the sky. Yes, this is impressive. It gives flesh to the term “eagle eye”. I get it. What I didn’t get was why they thought it was necessary to demonstrate this skill with actual dead baby chicks.

I KID YOU NOT!!!  Dead baby chicks thrown into the air as a hawk swoops by and grabs the yellow, downy, floppy thing out of the sky.

And then...one of the hawks didn’t quite have his technique down.

He grabbed half…

And a dead baby chick head comes falling out of the sky to land in the aisle next to me.

Other postings in this series:
Birds, not just your feathered friends
The Birds Series: The Chase
The Birds Series: The Feeding